On December 23, the International Republican Institute’s (IRI) International Election Observation Mission (IEOM) issued its final report on Georgia’s parliamentary elections. The mission concludes that Georgia’s October 26 parliamentary elections were “fundamentally flawed,” outlining four main areas of concern and multiple recommendations for reform, with the mission’s Head, IRI’s President Dr. Daniel Twining stressing that “only new elections can restore the Georgian people’s confidence in their government’s legitimacy.”
Inequitable Conditions and Misuse of State Resources
IRI’s findings highlight that inequitable conditions and the misuse of state resources severely undermined the fairness of the Georgian elections. The transfer of political party donation and campaign financing oversight from the State Audit Office (SAO) to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), whose head is appointed by the Prime Minister, created fears that the ACB would be weaponized against opposition parties.
Amendments to the Law on Political Union of Citizens (LPU) prohibited parties from receiving donations from legal entities and forming pre-election blocs, pressuring candidates to abandon their parties to join unified lists. This, coupled with a one-percent vote threshold for public political party financing, discouraged smaller parties from uniting to compete effectively.
According to the IRI’s mission, broadcast media regulations further disadvantaged opposition parties by limiting free airtime and tightening control over media narratives. “Commanding a significant funding advantage, Georgian Dream exerted influence over several media outlets to dominate the political narrative. Georgian Dream also used state funded events to promote parliamentary candidates and mobilized public servants and socio-economic vulnerable groups to attend its rallies, creating undue pressures on public servants to participate in partisan activities. The organization notes, that the ruling party also allegedly launched a widespread campaign to collect profiling data on citizens, reportedly using government resources, in violation of voters’ privacy. These government actions created an uneven playing field, compromising the fairness of the election.”
Suppression of Civil Society, Opposition, and Systematic Voter Intimidation
IRI observed widespread suppression of civil society and opposition parties during the Georgian elections, accompanied by systematic voter intimidation. While the campaign period was largely peaceful, rural and ethnic-minority areas experienced significant political coercion and intimidation. Institutional safeguards to protect freedom of speech and assembly were inadequate, leaving civil society and opposition groups vulnerable. Intimidation tactics, such as coercively acquiring voter identity cards, escalated in the lead-up to election day.
On election day, the presence of video cameras in polling stations and the use of special pens that compromised ballot secrecy heightened fears of voter surveillance and intimidation. “These factors eroded confidence in the electoral process and the protection of fundamental political rights.”
State Capture of Electoral and Judicial Institutions
IRI’s findings reveal that state capture of electoral and judicial institutions further diminished trust in the Georgian electoral process. Public confidence in the Central Election Commission (CEC) plummeted due to changes, such as the removal of the opposition-nominated deputy chairperson and reduced internal voting thresholds, which fueled perceptions of partisanship.
“Additionally, a controversial CEC decree assigning poll workers a week before the election, upheld by the courts, drew strong criticism for allowing potential ruling party influence. While electronic and manual vote counts performed as expected vulnerabilities in the voting process remained unaddressed. Inadequate responses from investigative authorities, a biased judiciary, and insufficient mechanisms for resolving election disputes further undermined trust in the process and contributed to the rejection of election results,” the report reads.
Rejection of Election Results
IRI highlighted that widespread irregularities during the pre-election period and election day undermined the credibility of the Georgian elections and led to a rejection of the results. Sophisticated tactics, including the use of voter data profiles for coercion, surveillance, and vote secrecy violations, compromised the integrity of the process. Election day malpractices, such as vote buying, carousel voting, breaches of ballot secrecy, and obstruction of observers, further exacerbated the situation. Weak dispute resolution mechanisms intensified post-election instability.
“The democratic principle of citizens accepting election results is fundamental to the stability and legitimacy of any democracy but requires trust in institutions and the electoral process. Lack of broad public trust and acceptance of results raises questions about the legitimacy of the election outcomes,” IRI notes.
IRI’s Conclusions
According to the report, the parliamentary elections in Georgia revealed a “decline in genuine political competition.” The IRI mission found that “numerous factors heavily marred the process and cast serious doubts on the election’s credibility,” highlighting an urgent need for “coherent and comprehensive election reforms” to address the weaknesses in the legal, administrative, and institutional frameworks governing elections.
The IRI mission also echoed the international community’s “interest in, and enthusiasm for, credible, inclusive and transparent elections in Georgia.” It encouraged the government to “heed the calls of civil society and the international community to address questions of government legitimacy emerging from the elections.”
Looking ahead, the IRI emphasized that Georgia must prioritize reforms to “enhance the independence of the election administration, law enforcement bodies, judiciary, and media, while fostering a more inclusive and open political environment.” These reforms, the mission stressed, are essential to advance Georgia’s “democratic progress, its aspirations for closer integration with Europe,” and to ensure that elections are “a genuine reflection of peoples’ will.”
“Georgia’s parliamentary election was not credible in the eyes of its citizens and marks a sad chapter in the country’s fight for freedom and democratic accountability,” said the Head of the IEOM, IRI’s President Dr. Daniel Twining, stressing that “Georgia’s institutions, including the Central Election Commission, the judiciary, and the government bureaucracy, functioned as arms of the ruling party rather than being independent and impartial. Reflecting on what IRI’s mission observed and on what has transpired since the election, only new elections can restore the Georgian people’s confidence in their government’s legitimacy.”
The report also makes 31 recommendations to “safeguard Georgia’s democracy,” including the repeal of the Foreign Agents Law. Other recommendations cover the electoral framework and competition, election administration, institutional integrity and oversight, and technology and open data.
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